Stetson University

Stetson University was founded as DeLand Academy in 1883 by New York businessman Henry A. DeLand, and in 1889 was renamed for John B. Stetson, the nationally known hat manufacturer and philanthropist who gave generously to the school. The university has been independent since it was founded, but had a historical relationship with the Baptist denomination. That relationship was dissolved in 1993.

Florida's first private university, Stetson University today has two campuses and two satellite centers along the Interstate 4 corridor. The historic main campus in DeLand houses the College of Arts & Sciences, School of Business Administration and School of Music. The university also includes the main College of Law campus in Gulfport/St. Petersburg, the Tampa Law Center in downtown Tampa and the Stetson University Center at Celebration in the Orlando area.

Stetson University serves a diverse student population of 3,700 in nationally recognized undergraduate, graduate and professional programs. The university's four colleges and schools offer more than 60 majors and minors in 13 degree programs. There are 256 full-time faculty members, 95 percent of whom hold Ph.D. or equivalent degrees, and there is an 11 to 1 student-teacher ratio. Stetson is consistently ranked among the best universities in the South in U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" edition.

Related "Stetson University" Articles

The Virginia Legacy Soccer Club announced on Thursday that club youth development director Eric Dutt will be head coach of its expansion team that will begin playing in the National Premier Soccer League next summer.
Dutt's playing career included a...

Tampa Bay, Fla., is teeming with Blackhawks fans these days. Some traveled south specifically for the Stanley Cup Final. But many didn't need to board a plane. They live there.
In a state of transplants, the Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan area is a...

One ESPN reporter with Central Florida ties just became an Internet sensation for all the wrong reasons: She threw a tantrum by belittling another person, a scene captured on video.
Britt McHenry, who graduated from Satellite High School and Stetson...

Robert proposed to Jenni during a high-school homecoming game — the sky at halftime punctuated by fireworks, the king and queen just announced.
They were not high-school sweethearts.
A banner read: Ms. P, will you marry me? It was signed, Mr. H.
Ms. P,...

Margaret Skoch of Cleveland felt a jumble of emotions as the day to leave for college neared. She was thrilled to be attending her dream school, Notre Dame University, her mother's alma mater. She was anxious about leaving home. And then there was her...

In the end, all the world traveler wanted was to come home.
She wanted to go back to the house on Bear Lake with its china cabinet that contained the small souvenirs from her trips abroad and the framed map of the United States studded with pushpins...

Gene Stephenson was a strict judge, determined to make sure that people who walked out of his courtroom didn't come back.
But that didn't mean that the 11-year Seminole County Circuit Judge didn't have compassion.
Stephenson was instrumental in...

With all eyes on Central Florida for the George Zimmerman trial and its aftermath, one question keeps surfacing: Why are juries made up of just six people?
Throughout most of the country, 12 jurors determine the guilt or innocence of suspects in felony...